Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 13-14; Luke 14:1-24.
Memory Verse: “And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.” 1 Samuel 14:37 KJV.
In 1 Samuel 14:1-23; the Bible tells us how Israelites defeated the Philistines with a few people. In fact it all started with only Jonathan and his aides with the backing of God that killed only twenty philistines and God made them to tremble and even the earth quaked ( 1 Samuel 14:14-15) further sending jitters down the spines of the philistines such that they went on beating each other! The defeat was so great that even the Hebrews who had gone to war with the Philistines against the Israelites turned back to support the Israelites. Furthermore, the fearful Israelites who had gone to hide themselves because of the war came out when they heard that the war was in their favour! ( 1 Samuel 14:21-22). But in-spite of this great support from God, He was not happy with the leadership of Israel! When Saul asked God whether he should go after the Philistines overnight, He did not answer him. Why? because an oath had been broken after the initial defeat of the Philistines! God does not behold unholiness (Hebrew 12:14).
It is therefore important that you should check yourself regularly to ensure God is still on your side before pursuing your adversaries otherwise, you might be defeated mercilessly. We should note that God fought for the Israelites using Jonathan to win the battle but the same Jonathan unknowingly transgressed by breaking the oath that his father made and thus became an accursed man. Fortunately, Saul sought the face of God before going to the battle.
One of the lessons here is that if you are winning a battle, getting promotion at work, getting new contracts, having breakthroughs in your various engagements or even breaking yokes of enemies from the necks of those who had been bound, you need to constantly examine yourself that you have not transgressed the law or committed any sin.
You need to note that Jonathan transgressed by breaking the oath on his way after the initial battle! So the victory of today does not guarantee that of tomorrow. Your anointing of today may not destroy the yokes of tomorrow!
You therefore need to constantly seek the face of God whenever you need to embark on any major assignment without assuming that your victory of today guaranties that of tomorrow. In 1 Samuel 14:37 (KJV), the Bible says “And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.” Not getting an answer from God shows something is amiss and Saul quickly gathered the people to find out why. Going forward, you should find out the reason in every situation that God is silent to your request.
Prayer point: Father give me the grace to quickly come back to you whenever I sinned so that you will abide with me continually in Jesus Christ’s mighty name.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero